There were two classes that I was able to observe, one involved an exam and another “individual” work on a laptop. The first class went as one would hope in which students were respectful of the rules during tests: spacing out properly, not speaking until everyone was done, and from what I saw, there was no cheating. In the second class, it was clear that Mr. Reis’ motion throughout the room and how he led the discussion directly affected student behavior. To keep students on task he would ask them to do specific tasks as a sort of checkpoint (examples: take out your planner and write this, take out your notebooks to look at this etc.) When students were supposed to be working individually, and Mr. Reis was engaged in the front of the room, productivity was fairly low, with students talking getting up and walking around, and doing other things on their computers. As Mr. Reis circled the room there was much less movement and many more productive questions asked. Although some students still seemed to be working with other people or having discussions he only interceded if it seemed as if their partnerships were counterproductive or unfocused. At one point during a quick lecture to get everyone on task, a student knocked over his water bottle accidentally, and because his disruption got a rise from his peers he did it a second time intentionally. After seat work began Mr. Reis confronted the student in a straightforward manner telling him that it was unacceptable and could not be allowed.
I really liked Mr. Reis’ disciplinary management because he handled it in a one on one manner, but also made it clear to other students that he was not ignoring the behavior altogether. This observation also showed me how important it is for teachers to move around rather than standing in a specific spot all the time. Students farthest from the teacher distance wise can also feel disconnected from the content because of the physical disconnect. By moving around constantly more students are engaged and the potential for loss of focus is limited. Although at times I wanted to point out to the teacher that his engaging with one student alone in a stagnant spot meant that other students were wandering, I realized that at some times one student or another may need specific attention at the risk of losing that of the group. In these cases the bar must be set for student behavior when doing seatwork in advance so that time is not misused in the future.
I really liked Mr. Reis’ disciplinary management because he handled it in a one on one manner, but also made it clear to other students that he was not ignoring the behavior altogether. This observation also showed me how important it is for teachers to move around rather than standing in a specific spot all the time. Students farthest from the teacher distance wise can also feel disconnected from the content because of the physical disconnect. By moving around constantly more students are engaged and the potential for loss of focus is limited. Although at times I wanted to point out to the teacher that his engaging with one student alone in a stagnant spot meant that other students were wandering, I realized that at some times one student or another may need specific attention at the risk of losing that of the group. In these cases the bar must be set for student behavior when doing seatwork in advance so that time is not misused in the future.